The remarkable growth and transformation of the healthcare industry translates into a growing number of jobs for lawyers.

At the same time, meeting the challenge of educating today's practice-ready health lawyers is a new and unique enterprise. Navigating complex health law issues increasingly requires a sophisticated understanding of the confluence of science, technology and social science, something not usually taught in a more traditional, finite health law program.

Concurrently, public and private sector employers are moving away from a focus on what new health lawyers know, and instead toward what new health lawyers can do with what they know. Reflecting this focus, many employers are requiring one to two years of experience as a hiring prerequisite.

Recognizing these new dynamics, UA's Health Law Certificate Program takes a 'boots on the ground' approach, providing skills training and externships to meet the one to two year experience prerequisite to employment. This skills training and externship experience will allow graduates to hit the ground running in their first years of practice in multiple areas, such as regulatory compliance and risk management, while encouraging continuous reflection on the relationship between law, science and technology.

The Health Law Certificate for JD students

A core set of four courses, in addition to completing a health law externship, that make-up the Health Law Certificate:

Health Law - Quality, Cost and Access

Government Regulation of Healthcare

Bioethics

Government Provision of Healthcare

Additional elective courses (for all degrees) offered by the Akron Law School include:

Administrative Law

Elder Law

Food and Drug Law

Intellectual Property (any course)

Biotech Patent Law

Public Health Law

Special Education Law

Expert Evidence,

Law & Psychiatry

Insurance Law

Co-Directors of Certificate Program

Christopher V. Goff, JD, MA | Bio In his role as CEO and General Counsel of Employers Health, Chris works with the Board of Directors to chart the organization’s overall strategy. Chris also currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of the Affordable Care Act, is an advisor to many pharmaceutical manufacturers and has served on editorial boards related to pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Daniel K. Glessner | Bio Dan is a partner of Brouse McDowell and the Chair of the Health Care Practice Group. He focuses on corporate and health care issues and serves the needs of various hospitals, physician group practices, dialysis centers, ancillary health care companies, and other health care entities. In the wake of Health Care Reform, Dan and the Health Care Practice Group at Brouse McDowell ensure that health care clients are in compliance with all new and revised laws and help develop strategic models to respond to changes in the health care industry.

HEALTH LAW: AN EMERGING FIELD

“With healthcare undergoing the biggest change in 50 years, the need for health law attorneys will be greater than ever.”